TV-radio notebook: Leach, James say Big 12 needs more

TV/RADIO NOTEBOOKLeach, James: Big 12 needs to find two more

Published 5:30 am, Monday, August 30, 2010

After consulting my notes from my recent conversations with them, I have found a point of consensus for Mike Leach and Craig James.

Both believe the Big 12 should hit the recruiting trail in search of new members to replace Nebraska and Colorado and get back to at least 12 members.

"I would be aggressive to add to the Big 12," James said during our recent chat at ESPN's cafeteria in Bristol, Conn. "I think a defensive move needs to be made, and TCU and Arkansas would be attractive candidates."

Of the recent realignment furor, Leach, who was between on-camera sessions at CBS College Sports in New York, said, "I don't think it was terribly well thought out, but I don't think they're done, either. I think conferences will still look to expand, and it seems to me the Big 12 should be going out and trying to get some teams to join up."

This is not to say, however, that either is keen on the concept of mega-conferences. James, as a graduate of a current outsider school in the BCS pecking order, is particularly concerned.

"If we have mega-conferences, we are damaging the culture of college football," he said. "It's important when Iowa plays Iowa State — not nationally, but it's important to have regional games of interest. And if you diminish the lower half of conferences and they're not getting the revenue so they can compete on Saturday, you've lost a hundred schools of importance."

Both also focus on quarterbacks when handicapping the Big 12 race. There's a lot to talk about, James said, but also a lot of uncertainty.

"We don't know if Garrett Gilbert can lead Texas," he said. "Colt McCoy made a lot of runs to win games. Can (Gilbert) do that? If Landry Jones is able to stay healthy, Oklahoma will be a good team. And Nebraska will be really good. But they all have question marks."

Leach thinks Texas Tech has a couple of good QBs in Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield. After all, he said, can you name another team that not only beat Nebraska (31-10) and Oklahoma (41-13) in the same year and did so with different starting QBs (Sheffield against the Cornhuskers, Potts against the Sooners)?

"Those are two established guys," Leach said. "But from a talent level, my favorite is the fellow there at Texas A&M (Jerrod Johnson). Garrett Gilbert was the best quarterback in the country the year he came out of high school, and I think there will be an adjustment period but that he will be good. Landry Jones at Oklahoma knocked off some rough edges last year. (Robert) Griffin (at Baylor), we'll see how his leg is.

"I think the Big 12 will be a good conference again. It always is."

Four DVRs, no waiting

ABC/ESPN - College football crosses another Rubicon with the migration this year of the BCS games, including the BCS championship game, to cable as part of a 400-game menu on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN3.com that includes 31 bowl games and 350 games online, including 40 exclusive broadcasts.

Early games of local note include Texas-Rice and Oregon State-TCU on Sept. 4 from Arlington on ESPN, SMU-Texas Tech on Sept. 5 (ESPN), UTEP-Houston on Sept. 10 (ESPN), Texas-Tech on Sept. 18 (ABC), TCU-SMU on Sept. 24 (ESPN) and UCLA-Texas on Sept. 25.

Fox Sports Houston - The Big 12 accounts for 25 of the 36 games this year, including Wyoming-Texas as part of a quadrupleheader on Sept. 11 and Houston-UCLA as the nightcap of a tripleheader a week later. FSH also will air a handful of SEC games along with the Big 12 and 11 Pac-10 games.

CBS College Sports -Mike Leach, the network's newest hire, makes his debut Sept. 11 with North Carolina State-Central Florida, one of 43 games on the schedule from the service academies, Mountain West and Conference USA. That includes an all-Houston doubleheader on Sept. 25 featuring Tulane-Houston and Baylor-Rice, and a Metroplex doubleheader Oct. 23 with Houston-SMU and Air Force-TCU.

Former Texas linebacker Brian Jones returns for weekly studio work, and Tony Barnhart returns for another year for his 8 p.m. Tuesday studio talk show. Tracy Wolfson hosts the new College Sports Lineup show on Thursdays, and College Football Confidential debuts on Fridays from C-USA or Mountain West sites.

The Mtn. - Comcast for some reason still hasn't added this channel to its Houston system, so DirecTV is your only alternative for a 30-game schedule that includes Texas Tech-New Mexico on Sept. 11 and TCU-Colorado State on Oct. 2.

Big Ten Network - Comcast does, however, carry this network, which is distributed by Fox. Marshall-Ohio State and Youngstown State-Penn State are early-season games, which might not sound like much, but remember that the Big Ten Network also lucked into Appalachian State-Michigan back in 2007. So who knows?

Versus - No Big 12 games for the Comcast-owned network this year, but it does retain the Mountain West, Pac-10 and Ivy League, including "The Game" between Harvard and Yale on Nov. 20. TCU is down for four games, including Baylor on Sept. 18 and a potentially significant game against BYU on Oct. 16.

Comcast Sports Southwest - The Oct. 16 Bayou Bucket game between Rice and Houston is the featured attraction on this channel available to Comcast subscribers only at channel 110.